The Clinton Partnership - Freelance Work

Upon returning from our trip to London, myself and James were offered a job as a creative team at The Clinton Partnership. We had been recommended by someone from Mccann Erickson which goes to show that hard work, contact and placements can gain you recognition and not necessarily with the agency you do the placement at.

Unfortunately, as we were working at Driven for 2 weeks and also have to do our Final Major Projects, we were unable to move or stay down there to work there. However, we sent our portfolio to them and they liked what they saw. They then said they would still like us to work with them and we arranged a freelance project where we would work from home and send our work over to them and we would then review how well the project worked even though we weren't actually there.

We worked on a 2 day rate on a brief for a Hot Pepper Sauce company and came up with mainly sketched out ideas in that time, as well as some slightly worked up versions to show how they might look.

We had some great feedback and we spoke with a number of them via a conference call which was a new experience but it shows that you don't strictly have to be in a certain place to be able to work for them.

Three core ideas were picked out which they wanted us to push and they gave us the option of working on a new brief for the same client. We said yes and have spent the last 2 days working on our ideas and mocking them up. We then sent them over as boards ready for them to print out and show the client. We are awaiting feedback on these ideas and are hoping the client goes with one of them so we can produce the final product.

At the moment it has been hard to fit the projects around other work and university commitments but it has been a good experience to work as a freelancer as I have never done it before and it can only benefit me for the future. I look forward to working with the Clinton Partnership on future projects if this is possible.

Portfolio Visit - Pentagram

The last of our visits before we returned to Manchester was at Pentagram. Unfortunately there was no time to go through our portfolios there and then but we were able to leave a copy with them. We were given a tour around the studio which was just having some new screens fitted for better presentations. There was a large presentation/gallery room at the front where they hold big meetings and lectures to students etc.

Something I haven't seen at any other agencies is an archive within the building. Years of work were kept in huge metal cabinets which can be used for referencing and also presentations and pitches. Then behind this was the canteen area where they all meet for lunch and catch up on gossip etc. To the back of the building was a woodwork which is another first that I have seen in a design agency. He explained that this is where the architectural designers create models of their designs. He showed us some of the models in a storage room next to the workshop.

We then went upstairs and looked around the open plan studio. There was some interesting work on show and it looked like a good atmosphere to work in. We then asked a few questions about what it was like to work there and what they got involved in. We received some good advice and would like to go back in the future.

At the end of the visit we were each given two fantastic Pentagram books which was completely unexpected but a really nice gesture that we really appreciated.

Portfolio Visit - Saatchi & Saatchi

We signed into the reception at Saatchi & Saatchi and sat down with a huge screen showreeling their ads to the right and a full wall of D&AD pencils to our left. This reinforced our knowledge of the place being a major agency in the world.

We were then greeted by the creative team we had contacted and we went up in their lift to their enclosed glass fronted office. We started off by talking about our course which is exactly the same one as they did. Again, this shows that you don't have to study advertising to get into it. Due to this, they were able to give us some good advice on turning our book into an ad book rather than a design book. They also gave us a handout to look at with some unwritten rules of advertising which offers great advice.

They then went through our book. Sometimes we talk about our work as people look at our book but in this case it was silent and they looked through it carefully which I appreciated more as the ideas should be communicated without talking about them anyway. We were then given feedback on each idea. They explained that the ideas seemed like one-offs in some cases and that they could be expanded into some great campaigns. The Berghaus was an exception to this as they really liked it.

They wanted to see more 'big' ideas in our book. An example they gave us was the Kwik Fit campaign 'Look What We Can Do'. This one sentence was then used in lots of different ways. The core thought behind it is the type of thing we need to make our book more ad based. This would also include new media as well as online content to support the idea through different mediums.

They liked the Blood Drive, London F1 and innocent work but it all needs more of a point to create a call to action as nobody does advertising without a reason.

Overall from this meeting I feel that we have gained a lot more knowledge about advertising and I think that we need to make a serious decision very soon of which route to take because they don't physically do much designing themselves. So mostly it is one thing or the other although the two are now slightly merging together.

Agency Visit - Dew Gibbons

The tutors arranged a few visits for groups of people on our course whilst we were in London. The agency we visited was called Dew Gibbons which design lots of packaging and products for clients such as Boots and Vidal Sassoon. We walked up quite a few flights of stairs into the top floor of the agency which looked like a flat with a table, sofas and a balcony. This is where the library was kept and looks like a place to relax and research.

We were then shown a presentation on a laptop of past and new work. He showed us expected salaries and their client. We saw mainly packaging design and some 3D design. He also spoke about going on nights out and the design community getting together.

He had actually previously studied at Somerset College where our current tutor Guy Lawrence used to teach. We spoke about his experiences with Guy and we told him ours. We then asked a few questions about his experiences of the industry and the feedback was very good. He advised us to be positive and know what you want to do and you will be fine.

After the talk we had a tour of the studio and met all of the other workers who said they would be happy to take on placements etc which could be an option in the future.

Portfolio Visit - BBH

We were fortunate enough to meet with a senior creative director who actually did the same course as us at Stockport College a few years ago. So it is possible to make the jump from Graphic Design into advertising.

In Manchester he worked at BDH before it turned into TBWA but he decided to make the move to London. We briefly spoke about our course and what it entails. We spoke about the competitions and the BBC work we were getting involved in.

He then went through our joint portfolio which he liked the finish of. Although he felt it was almost too finished and could include rough sketches that show a big idea. At the moment he felt it was a Graphic Design book with good ideas in it rather than the other way round. He advised us to expand on our briefs into new media and applications to keep up to date with current trends and show that our ideas have some mileage and sustainability in them. Of all of the work the favourite was the Berghaus ads and the Age Concern campaign he felt was the weakest.

After a lot of advice on where to go with our portfolio. We were then given a tour around the offices which was surreal as we had never seen such a big agency. The inside looked like it could have been a shopping centre with stairs leading around upto 3 floors of glass fronted rooms. He showed some creative team offices that were in the process of being removed as the future is about collaboration and not confining people into one space. From my own experiences I feel that this is a good idea.

He advised us to do a placement for a month but don't do anymore unless it has likely work at the end of it. He explained that there are lots of nationalities working at BBH because they need to communicate their ads and their business across the entire world. The subject of pitching was brought up and he told us that they have to get involved in this as everyone loses clients as companies like to vary who they advertise with.

Portfolio Visit - Williams Murray Hamm

The first thing we noticed about WMH was the light in their reception that is very bright and flashed their company initials. It warmed the whole room up and is unlike anything I have seen before.

After waiting in the open reception, we went into the large basement meeting room with Fiona. We had to walk past huge amounts of awards in the stairway which made you realise what a serious agency this was. We talked about our course and the way we are able to blur the boundaries of each pathway where and when we want to a certain extent which allows us to experiment in line with our ideas. As it was a design agency we opted to show our spearate books rather than the one we show to as agencies.

I went first and Fiona liked the interactive magazine which was good to hold and she felt it is something NewScientist might go with. We spoke about naivety and freedom of our first year experimental work. I showed it in the form of a book whereas James showed his in his portfolio which she preferred. She loved the 'A Thousand Words' subtle design and concept and wanted to see more which is something to look at when updating the portfolio. She also advised us to only put the final work for that concept in as it becomes confusing with other ideas that we show. She was impressed with the Berghaus advertising and was surprised that it hadn't been used for real. We then spoke about how it could work for other brands and products which I will definitely look into. Fiona liked the fact that we had used 3d software for the Shine work. She explained that they usually source workers for this but that it is always a good skill to have. She felt the E4 briefs had a good chance of winning awards which was a great comment.

Something that was another good point was that Fiona thought our Ministry of Sound video was just a mocked up storyboard. We talked through how we used a dance, green screen, filmed and edited everything which again was another skill which is good to have. She liked my logo identities for Mercedes and Angel of the North although she felt they should all have their own page.

Their was some constructive criticism of my work which I always welcome. She felt my furniture poster was purely style based which isn't in line with my other work. She didn't like the overused halo idea in my DreamCreators logo. She liked the table tennis TV advert but felt that the road warning sign looked too similar to my Age Concern work. She felt it was god that this work was used in their newsletter as a good cause and that I should include this in my portfolio. She would prefer to see the o2 work as an animation or interactive board as it is too static at the moment. She liked the inocent work as it was on brand and cheap. The Blood Drive work was appreciated but I was advised to brand the bus etc so people knew exactly what it was about without having to guess. Her favourite piece of work was probably the BBC and she wants us to send her one of the USB's that we get made which we definitely will do to hopefully give something back for all the time and andvice she gave us during our visit.

Portfolio Visit - The Partners

Situated in a nice quiet square in the London, The Partners is an ideal place to work as you bet the best of both worlds. We were greeted by the friendly receptionist who spoke to us about the London Design scene. She explained that some people had left London to go to Manchester such as the owner of Mark Studio. A former worker at The Partners had also moved to Dew Gibbons which is another agency we visited whilst in London. She was also kind enough to give us two more contacts to go and see which unfortunately we couldn't do due to a lack of time. She also showed us the display and library of books in which The Partners are mentioned. The display was a piece of work from each year as they are now 40 years old and were shown in a build up of boxes which was a great way of presenting as you can see in the picture.

We were then greeted by one of the creative teams and went to sit in the meeting room. Initially, we spoke about our course and the flexibility of choosing briefs to fit our strengths as well as getting involved in all different aspects of design. As The Partners is heavily design based, we were advised to go into more of an advertising route as they felt we would be wated just doing designs. They were kind enough to comment that they hadn't seen so many good ideas in one book in a long time but the downside to this is that there is so much work to show. Although it's hard to take out work, less is more. It was interesting to see that they see our book as though it could be an advertising book whereas some ad agencies have thought of it as a design book.

They said it could be an option to start up our own creative agency when we leave and not to bother so much with placements but look to get work or even a 6 month trial. A few people have said to us now that we should set up a business and it is something that does interest me. Especially as I hav ran my own small business for 2 years.

They kept thinking we had already left university as we mentioned the awards and BBC work and were surprised that we were still studying. The main bits of work they liked were Berghaus and Blood Drive in my book. We were asked to send the moving image videos over of the storyboards that we showed them.

Some constructive criticism was to take out 1st year work out as, althought nice and experimental, it doesn't have any idea in it like the rest of the work. It was advised to try and include these experiments within our ideas based work. We were told to have a look at new technolgy within our work too such as phone apps and new uses of media. During our 3 years at university there has been a dramatic change in the way media is used. We agree we need to change our thinking towards this.

We were told to try and get in touch with 4Creative as they felt our work suited their style.

Overall, it was a very positive portfolio visit that we gained a lot from. The advice we received was great and we can now implement these ideas and opinions into a redesigned portfolio.

Portfolio Visit - The Driven Agency

Upon recommendation from BJL, I decided to get in touch with Driven. Driven are primarily an advertising agency, although they deal with aspects of design and multimedia. Their simple idea is simple: to create ideas that sell. As my critical journal was about this subject I was even more interested in what they do. The company was created by 4 people who used to work at TBWA so they are obviously very good at what they wanted to do. They did not like the way the agency world was going and decided to form their own agency.

We were able to meet the creative partner and the person he works with as a team. This was beneficial to us as we had two different perspectives and opinions on our work. We arrived to meet at half nine and sat in the waiting room and had a drink. There was a folder on the table of all the stories about Driven in articles on the web. This made for interesting reading as it talked about new accounts, rumours and transfers. It was almost like reading the back pages of a newspaper. I had never thought that rumours and gossip went on around the creative industry but i do now. There was also a number of 'The Drum' magazines which featured Driven in them. Once it was time for our meeting we walked through the agency, which was surprisingly spacious and full of staff considering they had only been set up a couple of years. The actual agency is in a great looking building in Wilmslow and overlooks the Aston Martin garage. I really like the way it is away from the town centre and in a nice upmarket place. It is still in the town centre so you can do things in your spare time but it takes away the hassle of working in Manchester. This was a deliberate thought when Driven was created.

We then sat down in an office that had just been used for a briefing and spoke a little about our course and what we have been working on. We mentioned our Final Major Projects and awards work. It was then when we looked through our portfolio. Pleasingly, they liked our branding for London F1 and Great British Blood Drive. This shows they aren't just into advertising and appreciate how ideas can work well in other ways. We were told to possibly include our final ideas and production of the 'A Thousand Words' promotion. They liked the animation and enquired about how we had done it all which is a good thing and they appreciated the diversity of our work. This is something that I found very positive in the meeting as other ad agencies have just wanted ads. In this case the ideas were key and it didn't matter how they came through. The pieces they liked the most were Berghaus and the BBC pitch win. They were impressed by us winning the YCN award and by the way we have done pricing, design and application for the BBC moving packs idea. They also praised our workrate as we had done a lot of work which is now starting to show in our ideas. This goes to show there is no substitute for hard work.

Of course it can't all be good news, some pointers we had were to put a couple of 'core' ideas in there and work around them. This can be in the form of drawn sketches or digital but doesn't have to be to a finished standard. Some people are of the opinion that we should put more sketches in our book but as we are from a Graphic Design background we tend to go to the finished piece anyway so it comes naturally to us to only put this work in. Some advice was that we could tailor certain ideas for different agencies that we go to see and to show a few less pieces as it can sometimes be time consuming. This advice was constructive and we plan to use it to make our redesigned portfolio much stronger for our Final Show.

After going through our portfolio they asked if we wanted a placement. This initially took us by surprise as we had only gone in to show our book and wasn't expecting anything like that. However, we confirmed our interest and said we would check dates to see if we could come in over Easter. We then had to leave the building due to a Fire Drill! It was good timing though as we had just finished our meeting and we returned to college. We then checked our term timetable and we will be involved in a 2 week placement starting on the 28th of March.

You can see Driven's website here: http://www.thedrivenagency.co.uk/

BJL Portfolio Visit

Last night myself and James went in for a portfolio visit at BJL. As with TBWA, we went in as a creative team. Therefore, we decided to create a team portfolio. As we have collaborated on a number of projects this was quite easy. We also included a few projects we produced on our own for the same brief to show diversity in our ideas. It also means we aren't having to waste time and show two portfolios. The editing down of what we show is hard but it provides a strong portfolio.

At BJL we initially talked about what we had been working on recently and about our Final Major Projects. They were particularly interested in the BBC work. Although it's not an advertising project as such, they said to definitely keep in contact with them as they are hard to get in touch with usually. Hopefully this will help us in the future. Again, as with TBWA, they thought our graphic design background had come to the forefront once again. This was not seen as a bad thing but he would liked to have seen more development work in our book. We have been advised to include this for future visits to ad agencies as it will show our enthusiasm for the world of advertising. At the moment the book is working as an ideas based design book rather than an advertising book even though there are a number of ads in the book.

Aside from this issue they really liked our branding for Blood Drive and London F1. Our work for Berghaus he said could have won professional awards rather than student awards which is quite a compliment. He thought our innocent ideas were great and we were told to produce these and put them online. To get these opinions is great and gives us the confidence to improve our ideas.

Thoughtful Portfolio Visit

Last week myself and my classmate James visited Thoughtful with our portfolios. We went up to their office and initially started off by talking about our course, what we have been doing and what we are looking to do at the end of the course. We spoke about the agencies we had seen in New York and the way they do things differently to the UK. The subject of collaboration also came up which they feel is beneficial as a combined idea can be a lot better than an idea produced on your own.

After our chat we moved onto showing our portfolios, James went first and we spoke about the work that was standing out which included Ministry of Sound, Berghaus and Hot Photography. This proved that collaboration was working as all of them projects we worked together on. The BBC work we are currently working on was a key point of the discussion where we explained how we won the pitch for the work and are now involved in producing the moving information packs for MediaCity. Something that Thoughtful weren't sure about was that I had books of typography and experimental work in my portfolio. They feel that putting 1st year work in is a backward step as it doesn't represent my style and current work. This is something to consider, although other agencies seem to really like seeing this work.

We spoke about the QR codes they had created for the Tate and Chris showed us this in action from his iphone. I haven't seen this in action but it is clever stuff and works well within the concept. With my portfolio we spoke about the Blood Drive logo working well as well as the innocent ideas. It was also advised to send these in as ideas and try and get them into the real world.

Finally, Thoughtful think we should consider setting up our own business when we leave as we are already running small businesses and could build this up as they said they, in effect, started from scratch. Rather than building up to a high position within a company. Why not start a company? This is a definite possibility for the future.

TBWA Portfolio Visit

Today myself and James Clancy visited TBWA's agency in Didsbury, Manchester. They have 2 different sites in Didsbury which are about a mile apart. The site we visited today is a renovated traditional church building with an ultra modern design interior inside it. The interior is amazing to look at and uses the height of the original church to create numerous floors divided by spiral staircases.

We waited at the reception and watched through the Nissan showreel that TBWA had designed. This was on a screen behind the front desk and we sat on 2 big leather sofas with a TV in the corner. We then went into a conference room that had a very long table with lots of chairs round it. Light came into the room through the huge stained glass window at the other end of the room.

We went through our joint portfolio and were lucky enough to receive some great feedback. Some of what we spoke about was awards work so I cannot write about it her on my blog. He said our book was one of the best he had seen in a long time which is a nice compliment. However, he also said it was almost too good and very graphics based. As an advertising agency, they want to see more ideas based work and if this means that they are just sketches then that is not a problem. We have conformed to what briefs have said but some weren't relevant to what TBWA do and we have been asked to come up with more advertising based ideas for these briefs and go back in a couple of weeks.

He has also said that some of our work is too good in the way it is designed because we should never overestimate what the public will see. Our work was seen as quite implicit and needs to cut more to the chase.

Overall it was a brilliant place to see, we received some great advice and will be going back again soon hopefully.

Mike Carter Workshop - Orchard

A couple of weeks ago Mike Carter from Orchard recruitment came in to speak to us. He graduated in design and art direction and Orchard have placed more people into design than anyone else in the North.

At the moment 49.188 people are studying in art and design. This is second only to business studies. During the discussion we spoke about what was needed in the industry to breakthrough this huge number of competitors for jobs. The main points were enthusiasm, commitment and organisation. Real industry work requires a whole new level of accuracy. You can't afford to make mistakes before you go to print or it can prove to be very costly to your employers. When making your portfolio you can afford to make mistakes and make them better but when you show your work to people it cannot have mistakes in it.

We moved onto the subject of CV's. These need to get people to contact you. They need to conform to the 3 second rule. If your potential employers see exactly what they need to within that time then you have given yourself every chance. You need to include Employment - What your company does and what you do in it. Aswell as this you need to include education and your number of GCSE's with dates. Other qualifications need putting in order most recent first. We were advised not to put our date of birth on the CV due to ageism. If employers really want to know age they can work it out from our qualification dates. We should not be general with hobbies and only put in references if they are excellent.

With regards to the portfolio the advice was to consider the amount in our book carefully. To fake real prints to make things look like real industry pieces of work. We spoke about portfolios all looking the same which I have noticed about my class. Something I agree with is the way you should let the person look through the work. If you need to explain your ideas they are not good enough. During interview we should be ourselves, know the location and have some knowledge of the company.

We then did a small group exercise which involved having 25 cards with industry and student projects upon them. We could only include 15 cards for imaginary portfolio breakdowns. We did this for different types of job which helped us to understand how to taylor our portfolio to each one.

We were told to always have questions to ask your interviewer. Going around the group we were asked what we would ask. Most people didn't have one to ask. Mine was 'What are your plans for the future?' At the end of the interview we should clarify when we should be contacted.

I found the workshop worthwhile and got involved as much as possible and plan to take the advice into my own work.

Wolff Olins Agency Visit - New York

As with AKQA, Wolff Olins was on the 10th floor of a modern building. It had a clean white reception that led off 3 different ways. The white was broken up by some of their colourful work. I noticed that some of it was the NYC branding that I had been seeing around the city previously.

For this visit Bob came with myself and James, we were met by a woman named Debbie who, ironically, was also from Manchester. We then went into a stunning glass conference room and all got a cup of tea. Someone called Mike came in for a while and spoke to us about the way Wolff Olins work and that it is all about strategy. Unfamiliar territory to me but yet again it was mentioned a lot so I really do need to spend some time finding out more bout it. We discussed the Olympic London 2012 logo which Wolff Olins designed and why it had been designed the way it was. They hadn't envisaged the hatred from the British public but wanted it to be something that would be talked about and it was designed to be animated easily. I have seen it animated in different colours and it really does work well.

We were then joined by a designer named Malcolm and a student intern from Germany named Jan who brought over a laptop for us to show our work on. Interestingly, not one of the people we spoke to their out of 4 were American. This goes to show what a big international brand they are and how open they are to other influences and cultures. It was good to get Jan's perspective as he too is looking to graduate and get into the world of industry. His course worked slightly different to ours in the way he has had some time out to work at the Wolff Olins in Dubai, New York and is about to go to London. This shows just how good he was and he was proving to be very valuable to the agency. Debbie mentioned this usefulness as a powerful tool for interns to get noticed. Being outspoken and getting involved with things will get you far. Sitting in the corner and keeping quiet when you have nothing to do will get you nowhere.

We proceeded to then show our work. Bob, who didn't have a portfolio, showed them his blog on the internet. They all liked his work and saw it as very illustrative which I completely agree with. I like the way Bob just does what he wants whether it means anything or not. I also like to do this sometimes and hate being judged for it. Although they liked his work they agreed that it was not the best way to present work and to either have a case or a PDF of your best work is the way forward aswell as inserting your own character into it somehow. Debbie then also advised us not to put stupid things on our blog as people will be looking at them even if you don't realise and these people could be potential future employers. This is good advice that I will take very seriously as I tend to have strong views on things and like to say what I want sometimes where maybe other people might not like it. The balance between being boring and being too silly is very important when it comes to posting work on the internet due to its massive audience. Malcolm spoke to Bob about record designs which started him off in design. They spoke about some artists that I wasn't so aware of but it is good for Bob to be building up them links and is potentially a good route into industry for him.

James then showed his portfolio which they seemed impressed by. Being landscape James' portfolio filled the screen whereas mine being portrait means a lot is cut off. Upon redesigning my portfolio I will take all of this into account. They particularly liked his dental museum and Chesterton work. From this I can tell they like crazy ideas which is something I can relate to and I would love to work there someday.

It was then my turn to show my portfolio which I received some great feedback on. Mainly good but had some suggestions including doing a photoshoot to take my age concern ideas further and also to actually show any animation work actually moving as storyboards just don't have the same effect. They really liked my Blood Drive logo which is what probably got the best response from every agency in New York. They also like the Berghaus billboard work that James also showed as we worked on it together.

Once we had shown all of our work we thanked Malcolm for his time and were shown around the studio by Jan and Debbie. They told us how they work as one big team which I hear time and time again but this time it was done in a new way to what I had seen before. People in account don't sit with other people from accounts and the same goes for designers. All of these people need to collaborate so why have certain sections of work sat together. This apparently works really well and they change the seating plan every 6 months by pulling names out of a hat. I think it's a really good idea as all other agencies are very divided. Due to having work for some big clients in and all over the walls we all had to sign confidentiality forms before we could look around but after this we were able to see how it worked. There was a nice library of books, big open space for experimenting and lots of relaxation space with nice views.

Overall I feel we all really enjoyed the experience of visiting Wolff Olins. I for one would love to work there in the future. I like the way they have created controversy with there work and are not afraid to take risks. The office is a perfect environment to work in and they all seem very friendly. I look forward to keeping in contact.

AKQA Agency Visit - New York

AKQA's agency was up on the 10th floor of a really nice modern building. When leaving the lift we we stepped into a huge contemporary reception area where we were invited to sit whilst we waited for Barbara, the woman we had arranged to see. She came over with a laptop and we went into a small room with sofas and chairs in it.

As with most agencies, she asked us how we were finding New York and what we had been upto. We had been soaked all that day whilst we walked around and visited Ground Zero. Barbara herself had worked at Saatchi & Saatchi before AKQA and before that she was a student so she has obviously done very well for herself since leaving college. This is definitely of benefit to us as students about to go into industry.

She spoke about AKQA being heavily involved in interactive design which became a theme of the New York agencies we visited. The word strategy was used a lot. I can honestly say I have never used this word during my course before so I will have to put some research into this area as it looks to be going this way in industry.

James showed his portfolio this time which got him some very good feedback in particular his London F1 branding. Again my feedback was also favourable, her favourite piece was my Great British Blood Drive logo and ambient media ideas. This was interestingly the same project. She recommended that we should go and see Frog, Siegel + Gale and Pentagram as she felt out good design skills lended itself to them particular agencies. Obviously we had seen one of them agencies and did contact another one but heard nothing back. Barbara then even said our work looked a lot better than what most American design students are producing at the moment, which is quite a compliment!

I then raised the issue of preferring more ideas based work than design and she said we should tailor our books more to ideas and advertising if that is the route we want to take. We received good advice on the layout of our portfolios and whether we should include scamps and original ideas in our work. We spoke a little more about how international the agency was and how they all work together as one big team. We were then able to have a quick look around the agency. All workers were in a big open plan area with their own desk. There was a breakfast bar area and big open plan kitchen with great views for relaxation.

I feel it was very beneficial to visit AKQA as they have some very big clients and know what they are talking about. It was great to get such good comments about my work and the advice I have been given I will take very seriously as I begin to re-design my portfolio.

Method Agency Visit - New York

The visit to Method was quite a late one at 5pm so we were very tired when we arrived as we had crammed a lot into the day before we arrived but we got there in good time and went up to floor 5. The entrance to the building looked very old and was just a stairwell and lift. Not what you expected from a design agency. However it is this that adds a bit of character to the very clean white nature of most agencies. The actual agency was much cleaner with fresh decor but a lot of the character remained with painted brick walls and exposed beams on the ceiling. They were also in the process of doing up their office.

We met with a senior designer and a designer and went into a meeting room with a laptop to show our work on. They both had a history of advertising and had worked across America at different agencies although they both would like to work in Europe. At first we talked about New York and what we had been upto during the week. We found that some of the things we had seen hadn't even been seen by them. This then went onto our home life and how our course runs at home etc. We explained we were in 3rd year graphic design and want to get as much advice as we can possibly get so we are well prepared for the industry.

They said that their agency derived from the basis of clean Swiss typography which is still predominant in their work today. We then spoke a little about the values and what the company is upto at the moment.

I then had the opportunity to show my portfolio which we decided to take on a USB as we didn't want our fragile portfolio boxes to get damaged during transit. I also showed our Ministry of Sound video that we filmed and designed which they really appreciated to see moving after seeing the storyboard. James then showed his portfolio. They waited until we had both shown them to comment and we spoke about the problems we had when describing our work because a lot of it was based on UK companies, included UK road signs or UK locations. Without the knowledge it became pure nice looking design and the ideas behind them seemed irrelevant which is a shame. Although my strongest work from their point of view got around this problem. This is something I can consider when tailoring my portfolio to different agencies especially internationally.

After the portfolio crit we asked a couple of questions which including who are your favourite clients and why, and also what particular style is their work. The answers to these two were not a particular client name but they prefer it when the client is excited by what they are doing. It helps the work to flow more which helps bring out confidence and, therefore, better ideas.

This agency was very different to the others I visited but they seem to work really well as a team together. The whole agency was open plan where everyone could communicate. The people were friendly and had a lot of time for us which we appreciated.

Siegel + Gale Agency Visit - New York

We arrived in good time to see Siegel + Gale which was situated in an office block which didn't look very modern. Once we got to their floor and into their reception we saw how modern this place was. It was all white with white net curtains that created a fresh yet warm ambience.

A lady called Barbara greeted us at reception and we talked over our stay in New York and what we had done so far since we arrived. A man called Doug was called to meet us and he showed us to the seating area where we waited for a few minutes. We flicked through a few magazines that they were featured in aswell as a self designed book. We could also see how big the place was and what a good atmosphere it looked to work in. Around the waiting area were sculptures of animals made from old street signage. Doug then came back with someone called Alan and we all proceeded to sit down in a nice open plan meeting room with no Macs around. We then began a very in depth discussion about branding which was totally unexpected. We spoke of rival companies such as Futurebrand and Wolff Olins and how they differ which was a great insight as I've never spoken to anyone about rivalry between companies before. This led onto us talking about the London 2012 Olympic Logo and how they have come to like the logo as it has made people react and talk about it aswell as it working as a moving image very well.

People talking about brand became an important theme of our discussion. They told us about brands now working by being talked about across forums and blogs. One example of this is the film 'Bruno' which had massive amounts of money spent on the advertising, the sales in the first week echoed the amount of advertising it was given but overall the film became a flop as people spoke across the net about it not being very good and, of course, people listen to other people which meant it then failed from then on.

They spoke about the way brands have changed, they used to be centred around emotions but are now driven by people socially. Social media can be negative as well as positive so its more important now than ever to be sensitive to what your client needs. What was different about this agency visit is that they barely talked about their own work and talked very much about strategy which is something, after hearing a lot about from these agencies, I need to learn a lot more about. Absolutely everything needs to be considered, they said it can take months to get around the naming process due to research into meanings of words across all of the continents. Some words may offend etc in certain languages. I have come across aspects of these type of problem during my time at Mccann Erickson.

The company BP was briefly spoken about due to its relatively recent re-brand with it's flower like logo. Essentially the company does what it always has and that is have workers go deep into dirty oil wells to get oil to power machines across the world. However the rebrand has changed peoples opinions of the brand into thinking that it is now a green eco friendly company. It has done this very well although it isnt completely true.

Something Siegel + Gale have which I found different to other agencies is a different hierarchy. Most have pyramids but we were told that at this agency it was much less as there are the same amount of people at each level wherever possible.

We finished up the talk by being taken around the agency which was even bigger than I first realised. It was in a U shape and divided into sections for accounts to designers etc. The equipment was all fantastic and I saw some fantastic work on and off screen. We were allowed to take some photos but not any near walls of work due to confidentiality issues.

Overall, we were given some fantastic advice and our knowledge of strategy and branding has substantially grown due to this meeting. It is definitely the only portfolio visit I have been to where I haven't actually shown my portfolio!